Jump to content

2026 FA Thread | S Bryan Cook 3/40m | DE Boye Mafe 3/60m | DT Jonathan Allen 2/28m | QB Josh Johnson 1/1m | S Kyle Dugger 1/?m | DT Dexter Lawrence 3/70m


Recommended Posts

Posted

With the 10th pick in the 2026 draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select wide receiver Makai Lemon, USC.

TJ’s rant will be epic.

  • Haha 1
Posted
55 minutes ago, HoosierCat said:

With the 10th pick in the 2026 draft, the Cincinnati Bengals select wide receiver Makai Lemon, USC.

TJ’s rant will be epic.

yes.....yes it will be :-)

and I will come over to Army's house and take a stanley steamer there on his porch

  • Haha 1
Posted
14 minutes ago, TJJackson said:

Let us all collectively shed a single tear for the departure of Geno Stone to Buffalo

Word out of Buffalo is, he is still trying to sign the contract. Apparently, he tried to grab a pen off the table to sign, but failed to wrap it up, whiffed, and fell to the floor.

Got juked by a BIC

  • Like 1
  • Haha 3
Posted
14 hours ago, TJJackson said:

yes.....yes it will be :-)

and I will come over to Army's house and take a stanley steamer there on his porch

Hey hey I’m with you.
Tell you what, that’s something my neighbor would get behind so we can both go drop a deuce on his porch.

After that beers at Salem Gardens. 

  • Thanks 1
Posted
1 hour ago, Prophecy said:

Word out of Buffalo is, he is still trying to sign the contract. Apparently, he tried to grab a pen off the table to sign, but failed to wrap it up, whiffed, and fell to the floor.

Got juked by a BIC

He just needs to tape the pen to his shoulder and dive in the general direction of the contract.

Though he'd probably find a way to take a bad angle to a stationary object.

  • Haha 1
Posted
34 minutes ago, COB said:

You guys are pretty hard on Geno.  You act like you’ve never seen a safety who can’t tackle.

 

There's a reason cj Gardner Johnson got paid more and I can guarantee Buffalo is drafting a safety.

 

Stone is safety 4 hopefully 

 

I really like the cook signing for the Bengals. Dude is a gamer

Posted
11 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

I mentioned this in the draft thread (I think) but Styles is equal in talent to Reese.
Bold take ??  If I had to pick which player I thought would bust out between Reese and Styles, I'd pick Reese.

Styles isn't just a Combine warrior.  The guy has been getting meaningful snaps since he was a freshman.
He's played in 53 games and his stat line is crazy good.

Reese played in 36 games and didn't register a sack as a freshman.  He really just came on strong this year.
One could easily make the argument of him being a one year wonder when looking at stats honestly.

244 total tackles, 22.5 TFL, 9 sacks, 1 INT, 3 Forced Fumbles and 9 pass defenses.
112 total tackles, 13.5 TFL, 7 sacks, 0 INT, 0 Forced Fumbles and 2 pass defenses.

If someone were to just look at the hype of the players thought to go in the top 10 of the draft, damn near everyone would assume the better numbers belonged to Reese.  They would be wrong.  Sure, one could say if Reese came back for his senior year, he might eclipse those numbers, but he's not and there's no way to know for sure.  They are banking on that continuing in the NFL.

PLEASE, do not misinterpret my thoughts.  I love Arvell Reece and think most should run to the stand with his name on the card.  My take is that they should want to run to the stand with Styles name on it as well.  He's going to be an above average linebacker in the league.  Those two are ridiculous.  How big, how fast, how athletic.  They are perfect linebacking machines.

Well.... until the league proves that theory incorrect.

 

Styles would be the most talented Bengals linebacker since takeo Spikes 

Posted
1 hour ago, COB said:

You guys are pretty hard on Geno.  You act like you’ve never seen a safety who can’t tackle.

I was born to Kevin Kaesviharn. I cut my teeth on Ifeanyi Ohalete. Shawn Williams was my puberty. I am forged in the fires of bad safeties.

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Posted

From nfl stats on Twitter:

The #Bengals have signed QB Josh Johnson.

Teams he’s played on since being drafted in 2008: 

2008-11 - Buccaneers
2012 - 49ers
2012 - Browns
2013 - Bengals 
2014 - 49ers
2015 - Bengals
2015 - Jets
2015 - Colts
2015 - Bills
2016 - Ravens
2016 - Giants
2017 - Texans
2018 - Raiders
2018 - Redskins
2019 - Lions
2020 - 49ers
2021 - Jets
2021 - Ravens
2022 - Broncos
2022 - 49ers
2023-24 - Ravens
2025 - Commanders
2026 - Bengals

  • HoosierCat changed the title to 2026 FA Thread | S Bryan Cook 3/40m | DE Boye Mafe 3/60m | DT Jonathan Allen 2/28m | QB Josh Johnson ?/?
Posted
17 minutes ago, ArmyBengal said:

This might count as the fucking laziest, no thought to it, throw a dart at cheap names, free agent signing ever.

You aren’t kidding. Coaches basically don’t want to work, sign this dude he teaches himself the playbook, knows every defensive scheme, etc.  

Posted

What a bizarre career. Josh Johnson:

2-9 as a starter (2-5 if you remove his rookie season)
58.7% completion
6.5 yards per attempt
16 total TDs (14 passing, 2 rushing)
18 INTs
71.1 passer rating

I don't know why every team in the league keeps signing this guy (well, I do -- Army and COB already covered that). I expect the Bengals to draft a QB at some point, and now I hope it happens before the 5th round. Backup QB is a big need unless they bring Flacco back.

Posted

There’s a position I was wondering if they might look at during free agency and part of me won’t be upset if they do during the draft.

No one has mentioned this anywhere since the defense has been so historically bad, but I believe slot WR, a true #3 guy built for that role would be helpful.

I don’t need the biggest guy, but I do want that shifty speed element for this offense. Think of a Zay Flowers type of player and team them up with Ja’Marr and Higgins. I want a return specialist out of the guy as well.

I like Yoshi and like Chuck and probably why we won’t see it, but I want more.

Posted

All of my thoughts exactly.
A college #1 with Yoshi who I view more as a depth guy in case of injury and what I thought would be what I’m talking about in Chuck but can’t stay healthy.

I know people say this is already a potent offense but a true #3 with dynamic speed would be a nice addition.

Posted

Not a chance.

No earlier than the 4th, maybe the 3rd if the right guy was there.  I say all that being comfortable not seeing it at all.

There is a guy I’ve watched play since his time at USC and finished at Georgia in Zachariah Brown. A true #3 slot WR with speed to spare. The shifty YAC kind of guy that would bring another dimension to the offense we currently lack.

Posted

So I guess that's pretty much it for FA. I'm sure they will sign some scraps as we go along, but it looks like the cupboard has been picked pretty bare at this point. 

I'll give 'em a C+. Cook is the best signing: a proven and experienced starter at a position of desperate need.

Mafe is a wild card. If he's even an 8-10 sack guy, that's a win. If he's just "more expensive Joseph Ossai," not so much. 

Allen, as has been said, would have been a great signing five years ago. But now, he just looks like a traditional Bengals FA signing: the Old Washed-Up Dude looking for one last payday. Maybe he has more left in the tank than I think, we'll see. And he does offer some depth.

Overall I think they made the defense very marginally better. Any real improvement is going to depend on the younger guys stepping up and them hitting in the draft (as per usual, sigh).

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...